At Death We Begin
by littleshadowlight
Summary: When Sarah went to the Underground to save her baby brother from Jareth the Goblin King, little did she know that she had entered the Underworld. Ten years after defeating Jareth, Sarah is about to get married, but when she cannot remember her lines, she escapes to an eerie forest where she unknowingly enters into a ceremony to become Jareth's wife and queen.


Full Summary: When Sarah went to the Underground to save her baby brother from Jareth the Goblin King, little did she know that she had entered the Underworld. Having eaten the food of the Underworld, she belongs there and to the one who rules it. Ten years after defeating Jareth and returning to the world of living, Sarah is haunted by dreams of the being who spurred the emotion of true love within her during the week before she is about to get married to a kind man. When Sarah cannot remember her lines at her wedding rehearsal, she escapes to the eerie forest near the park of her childhood where she unknowingly enters into a ceremony to become Jareth's wife and queen.

Put as crossover as it was inspired by _Corpse Bride_ as well as the Greco-Roman mythological stories about Hades and Persephone. There will be no characters from _Corpse Bride_ in this fan fiction.

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Notes: A _Labyrinth_ fan fiction just in time for the month of Halloween.

I was inspired from listening to the soundtrack of _Corpse Bride_ at work as well as the semi-popular fan theory that the Underground is actually the Underworld and that Jareth and Sarah are a version of Hades and Persephone respectively.

Please enjoy and do review.

 _Labyrinth_ (c) The Jim Henson Company

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 **Chapter I: Say the Right Words**

Her heart was pounding. Sarah could feel the sweat sticking to her skin. She opened her eyes, taking a moment to look around herself. It was early morning and the first weak rays of the sunrise were coming into her bedroom. She was home. She had had a nightmare, a horrible nightmare.

She sat up in her bed, putting her hand to her chest to calm her heart. Why did she have to have the nightmare on today of all days? It was her wedding rehearsal. Her fiancé was a good man, kind, and she knew that she would be happy with him. That was why she had accepted his proposal a few months ago. Still, there was something missing from her relationship. A feeling that had only been spurred for a moment several years ago during that horrible night.

Her heart beat slowed, resuming a normal rate. She then pressed her hand to her forehead, trying to forget her nightmare. But she couldn't forget it. She could never forget _him_. Perhaps it was a sign, an ill omen. He would never let her go, haunting her dreams.

"Jareth, what do you want from me?" She asked. No one was watching her from the mirror. However, the sense of being watched was overwhelming and the feeling had only truly become known over the past week.

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The rehearsal was terrible. Sarah was cursing herself because damn she could never remember that line, the important line. People were becoming impatient, their false smiles faltering. She let out a breath and ran a hand through her long, dark hair.

"I think I need a break." She said.

Before getting an approval for permission, she ran out of the chapel, leaving her family and fiancé behind. As she ran, she swiftly gathered up the fabric of the plain white dress she had worn to her wedding rehearsal, revealing the jeans she had worn underneath. For the rehearsal, she was allowed to be comfortable.

The young woman kept running until she reached the familiar park of her childhood. Sarah would often come here when she was growing up to act out her favorite scenes from her fantasy books, in particular _The Labyrinth_. It had been ten years since then, a decade since she had dropped the book after enduring the trials by the real Goblin King. She had wanted to avoid coming back to this place after she had gone off to college and got work as a supporting theater actress in New York City. But her fiancé wanted to get married in the quaint, sleepy town of her childhood to give the wedding a more down to earth feel.

Dark clouds rolled across the sky and she knew that it would be storming soon. She ought to return to the chapel, but she was not ready. Not when she couldn't remember her lines, her vows to the man who would become her husband.

She pushed on passed the small monument and the clock, going further into the park. At the edge of the park was a great forest that had been left alone by her town, designated as an open space. There was always something eerie about it, however. Rebellious teenagers would often meet there around Halloween to dare each other to go into the forest. Urban myths had arisen about the forest being a portal to another world, a world of horror and magic, where one could never escape. It was a world where lost or wished away children would become monsters and the dead would rise up.

The legend was total nonsense, of course, but due to the amount of mischief caused by teenagers every Halloween, police officers were posted around the forest to prevent the teenagers from doing something stupid. One year, Sarah remembered, a teenager had managed to set part of the forest on fire.

Today there were no police guarding the forest. Halloween was still a few weeks away. Sarah stood at the edge of the forest. With the dark clouds and the sudden mist that seemed to be coming out of the forest, it was becoming the perfect setting for a horror novel.

Something seemed to pull her into the forest, a feeling that Sarah could not ignore. She walked into it the forest, being careful to avoid the roots and overgrown weeds as she walked.

She wasn't sure how far she had come before finally stopping to sit on a tree stump. In the dim light, she couldn't see the glitter residue on the stump. Sarah took in a few breaths before trying to speak her lines:

"I…I…" The bride sounded like she was making noises rather than actual sentences.

What was wrong with her? She could do this! She had faced other challenges before, after all. She stood up, determined. She moved aside some of the fabric of her dress to pull out the simple golden band that was to serve as her groom's wedding ring. Holding it in front of her, she began her vows: "I, Sarah Linda Williams, do take thee as my husband. I will be by your side through sickness and in health, through good times and bad. I will be your light in the darkness and your strength when you are weak. I promise you all this because I love you."

Sarah looked down and saw something that appeared like a small fallen tree branch stuck in the ground. It was oddly shaped for it seemed to resemble the bones of a hand. She slipped the ring on to the branch and smiled at herself, satisfied.

"There. That wasn't that hard, now was it?" She asked herself.

The bride didn't have long to enjoy her moment of triumph for it suddenly began to pour. Thunder roared and she saw some lighting in the sky.

"Great!" Another curse to herself.

She reached to grab the ring from the branch, knowing that she needed to get it before she raced to some nearby shelter to get out of the storm. But the branch seemed to have a mind of its own. The branch grabbed her wrist, much like a hand would. Sarah tried to get the hand off of her, but it's hold on her was strong.

As she fought to be free of the hand's grasp, she noticed that the bark-like texture was transforming. First into the white of bone, fattening up with muscles and then skin, and lastly a black glove on top. A black glove, a glove she knew. But it couldn't be, could it?

She worked even harder to get free from the hand, yet nothing she tried worked. Soon enough, she found herself being pulled into the cold ground. She squirmed, fighting as she got in a last breath before she was completely underground in the darkness.

"I suppose that I should kiss the bride, shouldn't I?" A familiar voice spoke. Sarah's blood turned cold.

Warm lips pressed against hers. It was like a poison, intoxicating and yet, she found herself wanting more. Everything faded away and she lost herself in the kiss.


End file.
